Vegan Birthday Party

If you saw yesterdays post then you may have noticed we did our first fully vegan birthday party! I was asked by a couple of friends to share the recipes, so I thought it would be easiest to do it all in one place then if anyone had questions or wanted to throw their own vegan party they would have some ideas 🙂 I’ll share the recipes below the pictures. Sorry the pictures aren’t the best, but I just took them quick before socializing. I also doubled most of my recipes. So, if you have a smaller group just cut the recipes in half. This easily fed 45+ people with leftovers. These are also recipes I don’t typically make, or I made more indulgent than usual. With a few cut outs (like vegan sour cream, vegan butter, etc) they would be yummy and healthy meals for every day. We also made some fresh OJ but I didn’t manage to get a picture.

For the main course we did Hawaiian haystacks. Typically this dish is made with cream of chicken (preservatives, yuck.) but I just made my own recipe and it turned out really well! For those of you who don’t know what a Hawaiian haystack is, it’s a rice base, with the cream of whatever “gravy” then lots of toppings like carrots, celery, bell pepper, Chinese noodles, coconut, pineapple, tomato, almonds, etc. You can really use whatever you want!

“Cream” of veggie base

Ingredients

1/2 cup vegan butter

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1 cup flour

2 (32 oz) boxes of Veggie Broth, low sodium

2 cups vegan milk, I used coconut

pepper, salt, tumeric to taste

Instructions

Put all ingredients in a crock pot on low throughout the day

You could also make it on the stove but I like easy.

I always like to have snack foods sitting around for people to munch on, mainly because snack foods are my jam. This recipe was AMAZING, you couldn’t even tell it was cashew based. You can see people already dug into it before I managed to get a picture. I followed this recipe with the exception of instead of making 24 hours in advance I made the day of and just let it drain for a couple hours then refrigerated. It was like a cream cheese instead of a hard cheese. I also added in a little more herbs than it said just because I had cut up more and didn’t want to waste them.

Blend soaked and drained cashews, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice and water in a blender until smooth.

Mix in herbs and spices and drain in a fine colander or a cheese cloth for two hours them place in fridge until ready to be served.

For the cake I made a “Great Depression Cake”, which means no dairy (milk, butter or eggs). However, there is coconut oil, which I have been trying not to use. Sometimes you have to make swaps. Typically recipes like this call for vegetable oil, but I used coconut and it was a great treat for the kids…..and the adults. There are a couple different recipes for this but the one I make is super simple. This cake is my very favorite. It’s so thick and rick and ginger gives it a little kick without the spicy ginger flavor. I baked it in a round mixing bowl for the round shape but cooking times will vary. Start at 25 minutes and go from 10-5 minute increments.

Great Depression Cake

Ingredients

3 cups flour

2 cups cane sugar

6 tbs cocoa powder

2 tps baking soda (must be soda)

1/2 tsp fresh, grated ginger

1 cup coconut oil

2 cups room temp water

2 tbs apple cider vinegar (you can NOT omit this)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 and grease your pan.

Combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and ginger.

Add in melted coconut oil and water. Stir well.

Add in apple cider vinegar and stir well until there aren’t any lumps. It will foam up, this is the baking soda reacting with the apple cider vinegar.

Bake for 25 minutes if using two small pans, I baked my round pan for almost 50 minutes.

Ok. Fudge balls are my weakness. I have no shame in admitting it. These are vegan and raw so you don’t have to feel too bad for indulging in a couple, or five.

Raw, Vegan Fudge Balls

Ingredients

1 cup cashews (NOT soaked)

16 fresh dates, you can used dried but trust me, you want fresh.

4 tbs raw agave

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup cacao powder

water for consistency

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in blender or food processor until smooth then roll into balls and roll the balls in coconut or cocoa.

Ready for the easiest guac recipe ever. Well let’s go then.

Seriously, the Easiest Guac Ever.

Ingredients

10+ ripe avocados

Your favorite salsa

Instructions

Peel and put avocados in a bowl then mix in your favorite salsa. Mash together with a whisk.

Easily make this 7 layer by adding the guac from the last recipe to the layer in-between sour cream and salsa

That’s it! We had fresh grapes, watermelon, strawberries and blueberries out as well as 3 different types of crackers and some corn chips. I’m not going to lie and say it’s as easy as hot dogs and a bag of chips but for me, the extra time it takes cooking and showing people some vegan meals that maybe they can incorporate into their “Meatless Mondays” that are healthy, delicious and cruelty free makes it totally worth it for me. Not to mention all the yummy leftovers I get to eat!